Like this:

Related

Responses

I’m happy Riley’s gone, but I’m not happy about how he left. because I didn’t buy Buffy’s “I do love, Riley!” epiphany and the race to catch him. Buffy’s turn around was so quick. Can’t say I entirely disagree with his reasons for leaving, Buffy was taking him for granted, although he was still being selfish. I can’t believe that he was disapointed that Buffy didn’t cried in his arms but alone for herself.

My favourite scene is the last one with Xander and Anya.

I found this on wikipedia, an explanation why the writers decided to have Riley leave Sunnydale:
“Joss Whedon says he tried to give Buffy a healthy relationship, but “people didn’t want it. They did some great work together. But at the same time, when they were happy, it made people crazy.” Marti Noxon adds, “Sunnydale romance just rarely goes well. Buffy with a boyfriend is not as interesting as Buffy in some kind of romantic strife. Riley, by his nature, was such a good and constant character that we were at risk of things getting a little dull.”

On the heels of the representation of mentally ill in “Listening to Fear” I saw this link online that simulates auditory hallucinations. I couldn’t make it 50 seconds before having to turn it off. Robin knowing your fear of horror movies I suggest you don’t listen to this at all.

I just listened to Derek’s link with headphones on full blast in my pitch black room and I can say that was the most uncomfortable 3 1/2 minutes I’ve probably ever experienced. Definitely second Robin not listening to it. Wow…

My thoughts on this episode: You know you have a problem when the most interesting thing over the course of an entire relationship was the breakup. This was honestly one of the few times I found Riley interesting. He laid out for Buffy a lot of interesting dynamics in her character, and I enjoyed watching her deal with it. I did not, however, think that her deciding to go after him was realistic. I can see her deciding this months down the line perhaps, but Buffy is a very proud person, and I can’t see her forgiving this over the course of one day. Additionally, while I understood why Riley hadn’t talked to her about this before, it does seem unfair to present these problems in their relationship and expect her to work through it in one day. While I get that these issues have been building for Riley for a while, I believe that these revelations catch Buffy completely off guard. He did not give her a chance to hear his concerns, process them, and decide if they could make it work. While, like I said, this seems unfair, it does seem to reflect the way many people behave in relationships, so I don’t fault the writing for that. I found their breakup realistic and somewhat heart wrenching, though I imagine it would’ve been more so had I been at all invested in their relationship before this point.
In other news, can someone please give me some explanation, other than the writers’ and fans’ obsession with Spike, that Riley didn’t stake him for real? Anyone?

I was reading some reviews of the podcast and some of the negative ones complained about nitpicking. I think its a strength of the show that even after so much time has passed and people breaking down the series piece by piece that the show can hold up. Isnt that something that makes this such a great series? That it can still be engaging and fun, but more importantly still have something to say. And for the record y’all (hearing a british accent say yall is one of the greatest things ever haha) are doing a wonderful job!

Hey William I got your message but since you don’t have a tumblr I can’t direct message you back. I don’t have a twitter I did but it got hacked so I deleted it, not before I let all my followers know how I lost 6 inches off my waist in a weekend though! I’m glad you enjoyed “creeping” on my blog, though.

Shameless plug for anyone else who wants to creep: I recently started doing weekly Supernatural and Arrow reviews (being that CW is surprisingly the only network with dramas I really enjoy) and I’m doing Angel Rewatch sporadically. You don’t have to read this on the podcast it just makes me look like a even bigger attention whore than I already am.

The moment in this episode that I found most moving is when Buffy is doing the dishes. Throughout the entire episode she has had to be incredibly strong for both her mother and Dawn and and in this scene we are able to recognize what an emotional toll it is taking on her. The fact that she’s blasting this cheerful Spanish music makes the whole situation even more tragic because she feels that she has to hide her fear and loneliness from everyone. It’s an incredibly hard scene for me to watch. SMG is almost always amazingly authentic in crying scenes.